New Zealand's kiwi bird may have descended from an Australian bird, new research says

Updated
Tue 17 Dec 2013, 5:12 PM AEDT

Photo

This Little Spotted Kiwi in North Island New Zealand may have descended from ancestors in Australia.

MyLoupe/UIG Via Getty Images

New Zealand's iconic kiwi bird may have an Australian ancestor, according to new research that suggests it evolved from a bird that flew to the island nation from Australia.

Palaeontologist Trevor Worthy of Adelaide's Flinders University said fossilised remains suggested the flightless bird did not evolve from the extinct giant moa, as has long been assumed.

Instead, he said an ancestor of the kiwi dating back 20 million years discovered in the South Island was more closely related to another giant flightless bird, the emu.

Dr Worthy, himself an expatriate New Zealander, says it appears the fossilised South Island bird and the emu evolved from a common ancestor, which originated in Australia but also spread to New Zealand.

"If, as the DNA suggests, the kiwi is related to the emu, then both shared a common ancestor that could fly," he said.

"It means they were little and volant (able to fly) and that they flew to New Zealand."

Dr Worthy said it was not uncommon for birds to "jump" from Australia to New Zealand, citing the Mallard duck, the little banded dotterel and the cattle egret as three species which regularly fly back and forth.

But he said the research, published by the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, was not conclusive.

"We need to find wing bones to put the theory beyond all doubt," he said.

If proved true, the finding might be a bitter blow for many New Zealanders.

New Zealanders have long complained about their trans-Tasman neighbours appropriating everything from champion race horse Phar Lap to actor Russell Crowe.